(42) 39 and 41 St Andrews Street (St Andrews Brewhouse) Undercroft
Updated 04/04/2020
NUMBER 39 AND 41 ST ANDREWS STREET
The building above the undercroft was built in the 19th century and has always been a public house, though with many name changes and has variously been called the Festival House, the Grocer’s Ghost and most recently the St Andrews Brewhouse.
The undercroft is below Number 41 and was built in the 15th century. It is built of brick with flint walls up to springing level. It consists of four bays and each bay has quadripartite vaulting with double order ribs.
There is a noticeable difference in size between the two eastern and western bays, the eastern bays being much larger. Modern rendering and paint cover the two eastern bays and the northern half of the adjoining bay to the west, whilst in the southern part of the west bays the brickwork is exposed.
The north wall of the two eastern bays of the undercroft has been thickened and the present entry into the undercroft in the eastern bay, from the 17th century cellar to the north, is modern. This replaced an earlier opening between the 15th century undercroft and 17th century cellar although subsequent rendering of the walls makes it difficult to ascertain the exact status or date of this opening.
The undercroft is currently used as the cellar for the pub above.
The manager of the pub very kindly allowed me access to the undercroft which is not open to the public. It is quite impressive.
The Map